Rossetti Archive Textual Transcription

Document Title: Letter to William Bell Scott, 13 July 1853
Author: DGR
Date of Composition: 1853 July 13
Type of Manuscript: letter
Scribe: DGR

The full Rossetti Archive record for this transcribed document is available.

page: [1]
Red Horse Inn Stratford on Avon

Wednesday 13 July [1853]

My dear Scott,
I got here yesterday evening, walking 12 miles from Kenilworth. Since I got into Warwickshire, I have walked always from place to place, & have seen some stunning things. I saw Shakspere's den last night, but it was too dark to see its inside properly, & I am eager to get at it again this morning, so this note is a very short one. You will hear from me again about my plans as soon as I am in London which will be in a day or two. Please, if any letters have come for me, send them on here at once on getting this. I feel a great deal better now, with constant walking, & the weather is splendid. I fill up the note with a master poem which I composed on the road yesterday on the occasion of plucking a honeysuckle.
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  • I plucked a honeysuckle, where
  • The hedge was high & set with thorn,
  • And clambering for the prize, was torn,
  • And fouled my feet in quag- water mire there.
  • And by the thorns and by the wind
  • The blossom that I took was thinned,
  • And yet I found it sweet and fair.
  • Then to a richer bush I came,
  • Where, grown in mellow intercourse,
  • 10 The honeysuckles sprang by scores;
  • Not harried like my single stem,—
  • All lamplike, full of scent & dew.
  • So from my hand that first I threw,
  • Yet plucked not any more of them.
Remember me kindly to Mrs. Scott and Mrs. Norquoy. I expect on returning to London to find a certain amount of hair on end.
Most sincerely yours

D G Rossetti
Electronic Archive Edition: 1
Source File: dgr.ltr.0568.rad.xml